T

1 THESSALONIANS

1Thessalonians
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CHAPTER 1 8 For from you sounded out the word

P AUL, and Silvanus, and Timotheus,

to the church of the Thessalonians
which is in God the Father and in the
Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be to you, and
peace, from God our Father, and the
Lord Jesus Christ.
2 We give thanks to God always for you
all, making mention of you in our prayers;
3 Remembering without ceasing your
work of faith, and labor of love, and pa-
tience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the sight of God and our Father;
4 Knowing, brethren beloved, your elec-
tion of God.
5 For our gospel came not to you in word
only, but also in power, and in the Holy
Spirit, and in much assurance; as you know
what manner of men we were among you
for your sake.
6 And you became followers of us, and
of the Lord, having received the word in
much affliction, with joy of the Holy
Spirit:
7 So that you were ensamples to all that
believe in Macedonia and Achaia.
of the Lord not only in Macedonia and
Achaia, but also in every place your faith
to God-ward is spread abroad; so that
we need not to speak any thing.
9 For they themselves show of us what
manner of entering in we had to you,
and how you turned to God from idols
to serve the living and true God;
10 And to wait for his Son from heav-
en, whom he raised from the dead,
even Jesus, which delivered us from the
wrath to come.
CHAPTER 2
F or yourselves, brethren, know our
entrance in to you, that it was not in
vain:
2 But even after that we had suffered
before, and were shamefully entreated,
as you know, at Philippi, we were bold
in our God to speak to you the gospel of
God with much contention.
3 For our exhortation was not of deceit,
nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:
4 But as we were allowed of God to be put

1:5 God backs up His Word with power. When the unsaved ask for proof, we have it. If any per-
son obeys the command to repent and trust Jesus Christ, he will experience the power of the
gospel. God will transform him on the inside by giving him a new heart with new desires. Instead
of drinking in iniquity like water, he will begin to thirst after righteousness. He will be born again.
God will make him a new creature, all of which will give him “much assurance.”
1:9 This reveals the essence of Paul’s message to the Thessalonians. He preached against their sin
of idolatry (transgression of the First and Second Commandments). This is also the essence of his
message to the Athenians (see Acts 17:29).
537
1 Thessalonians 2 538

QUESTIONS & OBJECTIONS

O2:13 “There is no absolute truth. You

can’t be sure of anything!”
Those who say that there are no absolutes are often very
adamant about their belief. If they say that they are absolutely
sure, then they are wrong because their own statement is an
absolute. If they are not 100 percent sure, then there is a
chance that they are wrong and they are risking their eternal salvation by trusting in a wrong be-
lief. God tells us that there is an objective, absolute truth that is not subject to man’s interpreta-
tions or whims, on which we can base our eternity. That truth is the Word of God (John 17:7).

in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; glory.

not as pleasing men, but God, which tries
our hearts.
5 For neither at any time used we flat-
tering words, as you know, nor a cloak
of covetousness; God is witness:
6 Nor of men sought we glory, neither
of you, nor yet of others, when we might
have been burdensome, as the apostles
of Christ.
7 But we were gentle among you, even
as a nurse cherishes her children:
8 So being affectionately desirous of you,
we were willing to have imparted to you,
not the gospel of God only, but also our
own souls, because you were dear to us.
9 For you remember, brethren, our la-
bor and travail: for laboring night and
day, because we would not be charge-
able to any of you, we preached to you
the gospel of God.
10 You are witnesses, and God also, how
holy and justly and unblameably we be-
haved ourselves among you that believe:
11 As you know how we exhorted and
comforted and charged every one of you,
as a father does his children,
12 That you would walk worthy of God,
who has called you to his kingdom and
13 For this cause also thank we God
without ceasing, because, when you re-
ceived the word of God which you heard
of us, you received it not as the word of
men, but as it is in truth, the word of God,
which effectually works also in you that
believe.
14 For you, brethren, became followers
of the churches of God which in Judea
are in Christ Jesus: for you also have suf-
fered like things of your own country-
men, even as they have of the Jews:
15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and
their own prophets, and have persecuted
us; and they please not God, and are
contrary to all men:
16 Forbidding us to speak to the Gen-
tiles that they might be saved, to fill up
their sins always: for the wrath is come
upon them to the uttermost.
17 But we, brethren, being taken from
you for a short time in presence, not in
heart, endeavored the more abundantly
to see your face with great desire.
18 Wherefore we would have come to
you, even I Paul, once and again; but Sa-
tan hindered us.
19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown

2:4 It is a great betrayal of trust to fashion our message to please men. We must never fail to call
hell “hell” and sin “sin,” rather than use timid clichés such as a “Christless eternity” and “indiscre-
tions.”
“Never mind who frowns, if God smiles.” Catherine Booth
2:9,10 We must strive to be devout, just, and blameless in the sight of a sinful world. God forbid
that any soul should stumble because they see what they perceive to be hypocrisy in our lives.
 539 1 Thessalonians 4

of rejoicing? Are not even you in the pres-
ence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his com-
ing?
20 For you are our glory and joy.
......
For how to witness to homosexuals,
see 1 Timothy 1:8–10 footnote.
......
CHAPTER 3
tress by your faith:
8 For now we live, if you stand fast in
the Lord.
9 For what thanks can we render to God
again for you, for all the joy wherewith
we joy for your sakes before our God;
10 Night and day praying exceedingly
that we might see your face, and might
perfect that which is lacking in your
faith?
11 Now God himself and our Father,
and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way

W HEREFORE when we could no

longer forbear, we thought it
good to be left at Athens alone;
2 And sent Timotheus, our brother, and
minister of God, and our fellowlaborer
in the gospel of Christ, to establish you,
and to comfort you concerning your
faith:
3 That no man should be moved by these
afflictions: for yourselves know that we
to you.
12 And the Lord make you to increase
and abound in love one toward another,
and toward all men, even as we do toward
you:
13 To the end he may stablish your
hearts unblameable in holiness before
God, even our Father, at the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

❝
are appointed thereunto.
4 For verily, when we were with you, In proportion as a church is holy, in

we told you before that we should suffer
tribulation; even as it came to pass, and
you know.
5 For this cause, when I could no longer
forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by
some means the tempter have tempted
you, and our labor be in vain.
6 But now when Timotheus came from
you to us, and brought us good tidings
of your faith and charity, and that you
have good remembrance of us always,
desiring greatly to see us, as we also to
see you:
7 Therefore, brethren, we were comfort-
ed over you in all our affliction and dis-
❞
that proportion will its testimony for
Christ be powerful.
CHARLES SPURGEON
CHAPTER 4
F URTHERMORE then we beseech
you, brethren, and exhort you by the
Lord Jesus, that as you have received of
us how you ought to walk and to please
God, so you would abound more and
more.
2 For you know what commandments
we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God, even your

2:16 Some lack the fear of God and believe that it is their right to suppress the truth of God’s
Word. However, those who hinder the progress of the gospel will come under the severe wrath of
the Almighty. It would be better that a millstone be placed around their neck and they be cast into
the depths of the sea, rather than hinder a single person from coming to peace with their Creator.
We can take strong consolation in the fact that God will have His way. Whoever calls upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved and the wicked will be punished. He has delusions of grandeur in-
deed who thinks he can stop the will of God from coming to pass. Though hand join in hand, the
wicked will not go unpunished (Proverbs 11:21). God will judge the world in righteousness. It
would be infinitely easier to build a bacon-burger restaurant on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem
than to stop God from saving those who call upon Him and from having His Day of Justice.
 Two Prayers
.............................................

“D EAR GOD, I have sinned against You by breaking Your Command-

ments. Despite the conscience You gave me, I have looked with lust
and therefore committed adultery in my heart. I have lied, stolen,
hated, failed to love You, failed to love my neighbor as myself, and failed to keep
the Sabbath holy. I have been covetous, harbored hatred in my heart and there-
fore been guilty of murder in Your sight. I have used Your holy name in vain,
have made a god to suit myself, and because of the nature of my sin, I have dis-
honored my parents. If I stood before You in Your burning holiness on Judgment
Day, if every secret sin I have committed and every idle word I have spoken
came out as evidence of my crimes against You, I would be utterly guilty, and
justly deserve hell. I am unspeakably thankful that Jesus took my place by suf-
fering and dying on the cross. He was bruised for my iniquities. He paid my fine
so that I could leave the courtroom. He revealed how much You love me. I be-
lieve that He then rose from the dead (according to the Scriptures). I now con-
fess and forsake my sin and yield myself to Him to be my Lord and Savior. I will
no longer live for myself. I present my body, soul, and spirit to You as a living
sacrifice, to serve You in the furtherance of Your Kingdom. I will read Your Word
daily and obey what I read. It is solely because of Calvary’s cross that I will live
forever. I am eternally Yours. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.”

“Choose you this day whom you will serve...”

“S ATAN, the Bible tells me that you are the god of this world. You are the
father of lies. You deceive the nations and blind the minds of those
who do not believe. God warns that I cannot enter His Kingdom be-
cause I have lied, stolen, looked with lust and therefore committed adultery in
my heart. I have harbored hatred, which the Bible says is the same as murder. I
have blasphemed, refused to put God first, violated the Sabbath, coveted other
people’s goods, dishonored my parents, and have been guilty of the sin of idola-
try—I even made a god to suit myself. I did all this despite the presence of my
conscience. I know that it was God who gave me life. I have seen the splendor of
a sunrise. I have heard the sounds of nature. I have enjoyed pleasures of an in-
credible array of food, all of which came from His generous hand. I realize that if
I die in my sins I will never know pleasure again. I know that Jesus Christ shed
His life’s blood for my sins and rose again to destroy the power of death, but
today I refuse to confess and forsake my sins. On the Day of Judgment, if I am
cast into the Lake of Fire I will have no one to blame but myself. It is not God’s
will that I perish. He commended His love toward me through the death of His
Son, who came to give me life. It was you who came to kill, steal, and destroy.
You are my spiritual father. I choose to continue to serve you and do your will.
This is because I love the darkness and hate the light. If I do not come to my
senses, I will be eternally yours. Amen.”
 541
sanctification, that you should abstain
from fornication:
4 That every one of you should know
how to possess his vessel in sanctifica-
tion and honor;
5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even
as the Gentiles which know not God:
6 That no man go beyond and defraud
his brother in any matter: because that
the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we
also have forewarned you and testified.
7 For God has not called us to unclean-
ness, but to holiness.
8 He therefore that despises, despises
not man, but God, who has also given to
us his holy Spirit.
9 But as touching brotherly love you
need not that I write to you: for you
yourselves are taught of God to love one
another.
10 And indeed you do it toward all the
brethren which are in all Macedonia: but
we beseech you, brethren, that you in-
crease more and more;
11 And that you study to be quiet, and
to do your own business, and to work with
your own hands, as we commanded you;
12 That you may walk honestly toward
them that are without, and that you may
have lack of nothing.
13 But I would not have you to be igno-
rant, brethren, concerning them which
are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as
others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and
rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say to you by the word
of the Lord, that we which are alive and
remain to the coming of the Lord shall
not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice
of the archangel, and with the trump of
God: and the dead in Christ shall rise
first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain
5:2 Second coming of Jesus: See Hebrews 9:28.
1 Thessalonians 5
shall be caught up together with them in
the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:
and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with
these words.
The Dead Sea Scrolls confirm that the
Bible hasn’t changed through the years.
See 1 Peter 1:25 footnote.
CHAPTER 5
B UT of the times and the seasons,
brethren, you have no need that I
write to you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that
the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in
the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and
safety; then sudden destruction comes
upon them, as travail upon a woman with
child; and they shall not escape.
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness,
that that day should overtake you as a
thief.
5 You are all the children of light, and
the children of the day: we are not of the
night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do oth-
ers; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night;
and they that be drunken are drunken in
the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be so-
ber, putting on the breastplate of faith
1 Thessalonians 5 542

and love; and for an helmet, the hope of men.

salvation.
9 For God has not appointed us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus
Christ,
10 Who died for us, that, whether we
wake or sleep, we should live together
with him.
11 Wherefore comfort yourselves to-
gether, and edify one another, even as
also you do.
12 And we beseech you, brethren, to
know them which labor among you, and
are over you in the Lord, and admonish
you;
13 And to esteem them very highly in
love for their work’s sake. And be at peace
among yourselves.
14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn
them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-
minded, support the weak, be patient
toward all men.
15 See that none render evil for evil to
any man; but ever follow that which is
good, both among yourselves, and to all
16 Rejoice evermore.
17 Pray without ceasing.
18 In every thing give thanks: for this is
the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you.
19 Quench not the Spirit.
20 Despise not prophesyings.
21 Prove all things; hold fast that which
is good.
22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
23 And the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly; and I pray God your whole
spirit and soul and body be preserved
blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
24 Faithful is he that calls you, who also
will do it.
25 Brethren, pray for us.
26 Greet all the brethren with an holy
kiss.
27 I charge you by the Lord that this
epistle be read to all the holy brethren.
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you. Amen.

5:14 This is the spirit in which we should share our faith. See 2 Timothy 2:24.
5:17 General “Stonewall” Jackson, one of the country’s greatest generals, gives a good example
of how to “pray without ceasing”:
“When we take our meals, there is the grace. When I take a draught of water, I always
pause . . . to lift up my heart to God in thanks and prayer for the water of life. Whenever I
[send] a letter . . . I send a petition along with it, for God’s blessing upon its mission and upon
the person to whom it is sent.
“When I [open] a letter . . . I stop to pray to God that He may prepare me for its con-
tents . . . When I go to my class-room and await the arrangement of the cadets in their
places, that is my time to intercede with God for them.”
5:17 “Prayers are not limited to place and time. If you are not in the right place to pray, you’re
not in the right place.” Chuck Missler
“Prayer is the shield to the soul, a delight to God, and a scourge to Satan.” John Bunyan
5:20 The Bible’s fascinating facts. In Isaiah 66:7,8 (700 B.C.), the prophet Isaiah gives a strange
prophecy: “Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a
man child. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to
bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she
brought forth her children.” In 1922 the League of Nations gave Great Britain the mandate (politi-
cal authority) over Palestine. On May 14, 1948, Britain withdrew her mandate, and the nation of
Israel was “born in a day.” There are more than 25 Bible prophecies concerning Palestine that have
been literally fulfilled. Probability estimations conclude that the chances of these being accidentally
fulfilled are less than one chance in 33 million.